Written By
Gotterdammerung
101

In no particular order:

1) You have 2 char slots, so use them. Even if you only have 1 account, use your other character to scout! If you think that things are hairy, and your trapped in Tos, use your mule to run around and check things out before you leave. Also if you happen to get logged, use your mule to come watch your ghost until mean pker guy/gal gets bored. Most of the time, they will get bored and leave, especially since, as a lowly newb, you have nothing of value to pen anyway (pen=you drop shit when you log off more than once every 24 hours outside of inn or advent hall).

2) Also, what are you doing in Tos? Stay away from here unless you have business that can only be handled here. Otherwise, find some other town to use as your homebase. Ever hear of the statistic that 90% of people die in car wrecks within a mile of their house? Well, good number of pks happen in the screens around Tos.

3) If you have between 30-80 hps, and are still working Weaponcraft, you suck. That means log off if attacked. Don't think that you are upholding some code of "honor" by standing your ground against some douche who's attacking you. Trust me, you are not in a fair fight, so don't worry about logging off. As soon as you're attacked, press ALT+F4, or if you are fast with the mouse click on that little red box with the X in the upper right corner.

4) Stop carrying so much shit, especially shillings. Never carry more than a few hundred shills on you if you can help it, and don't go hunting with equipment you're not prepared to lose. Again, use your mule (s).

5a) If you are attacked, log, get on your mule, and bcast who, where, and how you were attacked. It is really frustrating as someone who's tried to pk hunt to have your tells ignored when you are trying to help someone out. Letting others know what has happened will help hunters know what they are looking for and going up against. The more info you give the better.

5b) Keep a low profile. Look, you sort of suck right now. No offense. So don't go mouthing off in bcasts about game issues, or politics, or Jersey Shore, or anything else. Just shut up and build. Put a podcast on iTunes and hack away. You don't need to opine on server business. Also, if you do happen to get attacked, don't go crying about it or talking shit to the person who hit you, either. You're just going to put a big target on your back. If you're cool about it, maybe the next time they'll pass you up and dump a bucket of acid on some other guy.

6) Knight shields are for selling to Quintor in Jasper. Period. If you are out hunting wearing a KS, it is a blinking red neon light to pkers that says, "EASY KILL." Knight Shields magnify fire damage, which is what many pkers use to kill you dead with. With which to kill you dead? You get the point.

7) Sounds simple, but watch the map for blue dots on the screen. If you see someone making a beeline for you, you might want to stop poking that fungus beast with your dad's pocket knife for a sec and see who it is...


Useful places to build:

30-50 hps: Look, I know that Valley of Illeria, with its hordes of fungus beasts that will take you all the way to 50 hps looks tempting, but it and the beach are pk alley, and might get you fried. Also, avoid the graveyard and just forget Castle Victoria even exists, ok. It's not there. Instead, try going up into the vale north of Marion. Fairies fly around fast and can be a pain, but they give fine loot, they spawn super fast, will take you to 60 hps, and let's face it, no pker is going to want to go hunting all through the vale for your dumb ass.

50-80 hps: At this point, you should be getting close to fencing, and when you do, that means nerudite swords and trolls. You will need to either bcast for anyone selling them, or get someone to open the caves for you and make a run to Ko'cotan to buy a bunch of them. You will need a torch or someone to cast night vision on you. There is a guide on gilroy's for getting to the island. Why on Earth would I go all the way to the island for swords? Here's why: because they pwn trolls like the Ark of the Covenant pwns Nazi faces. Your hps will fly up and you will be nearly done with Slash and Fencing (trolls take it them and hps to 90) in no time. Keep checking them though, and drop them or mend them once they're about to break, because when they to, they will explode and cause you damage. There is no greater newb death than being killed by your nerudite sword. Here's the catch: don't go into ukgoth and fight trolls there (pk alley again). Instead, go south of Marion and head to seafarer's peak area. Trolls all over the place, as well as Mutant Ants (which also give good loot, and will take you to 70, I think). Load up on long swords, scale armors and gold shields, and when you fill up, take them south to Jasper for like 10-15k per load. Plus, there's a bank in Jasper!!

By the time you're 90 hps you're heading out to the island, to fight avars and dragonflies, and you should have plenty of money, hps, and skills to take care of yourself and not die stupid newb deaths.

I am not an "expert" at this game, but I built my character last fall, when anyone who's around will tell you that the pking was MUCH worse than right now (for example...there were times when 20% of the characters logged in at any time were active pkers) and I did not get pked once. I did die a stupid newb death though, and it involves not understanding that those cool red, purple, and yellow shields that Jonas, the Duke, and the Princess give you come with fine print, like, you can't take them off and you can be attacked in the streets unguilded by other shield holders or reds. So, last piece of advice that cost me a death: don't get soldier shield until you're ready to fight for it =]

It's not sexy, but it works. I've probably left some stuff out, so those of you who know more than me feel free to add to this.